Nuns vs. the pipeline: A chapel is part of the fight now

Pipeline construction is underway in Lebanon County.
Pipeline segments for the Mariner East 2 pipeline have been placed from Heidelberg Township to West Cornwall Township.

Lebanon Daily News/ USA Today Network/Wochit

The open-air chapel rests in a plot carved from a cornfield bordered by a park in a suburban development.

An arbor shades the altar, fashioned from what looks like a picnic table. The pulpit is constructed from a slab of walnut perched atop a section of the trunk of a locust, both pieces of wood salvaged from fallen trees.

"You can only change something by taking one step at a time," said Sister Bernice Klostermann, ...more

"You can only change something by taking one step at a time," said Sister Bernice Klostermann, right, as she and Sister George Ann Biscan of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, pose in the chapel which was constructed to oppose the building of a natural gas pipeline on their land.

Jason Plotkin, York Daily Record

In front of the altar are eight benches serving as pews. The cross is made by branches, a rainbow of ribbons hang from its cross member.

The sisters of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ may lead simple lives of service to God, but their lives have been complicated recently. The proposed construction of a natural gas pipeline would cut through the farmland the order owns just outside of Columbia in Lancaster County, across the river from York County.

They are in the middle of a fight to prevent the pipeline's developer, the Williams Company, an energy infrastructure firm headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from seizing the right-of-way through their land to build a 120-mile-long pipeline that cuts through central Pennsylvania.

The chapel is part of the fight, built on land Williams has gone to court to seize through eminent domain. It is more than a place of worship and prayer. It is a symbol of the order's resistance to the construction of the pipeline.

The sisters of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ church allowed opponents of the
Atlantic Sunrise ...more

The sisters of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ church allowed opponents of the
Atlantic Sunrise pipeline to construct a simple chapel in its path.

Sean Heisey, York Daily Record

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The Adorers of the Blood of Christ was founded in 1834 in the rural mountains of Italy by St. Maria De Mattias. Her goal was to bring schools to poor communities and to serve the poor.

The order spread, and in 1925, it established its ministry in Columbia, acquiring some 90 acres of farmland east of the river town, to serve the elderly.

The founders of the mission farmed the land, raising crops and cattle. Today, it's leased to local farmers. (The land had been part of the estate owned by U.S. Sen. Matthew Quay, a Dillsburg native who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor during the Civil War.)

The order, which has 2,000 members worldwide and more than 200 in the United States, has a lengthy history of activism and fighting for social justice and seeking, according to its mission statement, "to educate ourselves and the others on important issues of social justice in our world. Tragedies such as poverty, war, racism, and global warming separate us in a way that does not mirror our hope for the Kingdom of God."

The order's motto is "You will lack nothing if God is with you. Be a woman of great courage."

And they are.

In October 1992, five sisters on a mission in Liberia were killed by soldiers of warlord Charles Taylor's army during that nation's bloody civil war. The Adorers pulled out of Liberia, but they have returned and are looking at re-establishing a mission in the West African nation.

They stand for the rights of women and immigrants. And they stand for protecting the environment. The order has fought mining companies in Guatemala, at great risk. And now, it is taking on Williams.

"This is not about politics for us," Sister Bernice Klostermann said. "They've said we're just looking to get more money. We're not looking for money. We want to preserve this land."

Their opposition is based on their faith.

"We have to pay reverence to the land God has given us," Biscan said. "We honor God by protecting and preserving His creation."

The project, in the pipeline, so to speak, for two years, is a $3 billion expansion of the existing Transco pipeline, a 10,200-mile network that stretches from Texas to New York and delivers natural gas to the Southeast and Atlantic seaboard states and to ports where it is then distributed internationally.

Colorful ribbons have been tied by visitors to parts of the chapel built for the Adorers of the ...more

Colorful ribbons have been tied by visitors to parts of the chapel built for the Adorers of the Blood of Christ to show support for their opposition to a pipeline being built on their property.

The Atlantic Sunrise consists of 180 miles of pipeline crossing eight Pennsylvania counties, starting north of Scranton and terminating in southern Lancaster County. Once complete, the company says, it will connect the Marcellus shale region to East Coast markets, delivering enough natural gas to power more than seven million homes.

In February, after lengthy review and public hearings, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the project, and construction began in early spring.

Williams has settled with 99 percent of the more than 1,000 landowners affected by the pipeline.

The Adorers are among the one percent.

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The claim for the right-of-way through the Adorers land is in court as Williams has sought to use eminent domain to acquire a right-of-way to the land.

While that battle continued, Lancaster Against Pipelines asked the Adorers whether they could erect the chapel on their land in the path of the proposed pipeline.

The organization's Mark Clatterbuck, an associate professor of religion at Montclair State University, said the group had held protests and vigils at other sites along the pipeline's proposed route, and erecting an open-air chapel seemed like a natural.

"It's a powerful symbol of our commitment to the land," Klostermann said.

Williams was not amused. On July 6, three days before the chapel - off Laurel Run, not far from Routes 462 and 30 - was scheduled to be dedicated, the company filed a motion in federal court, asking a judge to grant them immediate possession of the right-of-way.

"It appears that Landowners are seeking to obstruct construction of the project … by dedicating a 'prayer chapel' on the rights of way," the motion stated.

The company had hoped to acquire the rights to the land, and tear down the chapel, before it could be dedicated. The judge agreed that the company had the right to obtain the land, but deferred judgement on the timing of the possession until a hearing on the eminent domain case, scheduled for Monday in federal court in Reading.

In a statement, company spokesman Christopher Stockton wrote, "We respect peoples’ right to protest, as long as those protests are done peacefully and safely. Unfortunately, the placement of the arbor in the middle of the planned construction right-of-way creates a safety hazard for construction of this important, federally-approved project.

"With the exception of the width of the construction right-of-way, this structure can be placed anywhere else on the property without issue. Our top priority is the safety of protestors and construction personnel during the extensive pipeline installation process."

Stockton further wrote, "Our goal is to respect and treat every landowner fairly, and our team has been attempting to negotiate in good faith with the affected property owner for more than two years. While we respect the landowner’s right to protest, we disagree with the opinions that have been expressed about this important infrastructure project.

"Access to inexpensive, domestic natural gas is a huge benefit to all people, especially the economically disadvantaged. Sufficient access to affordable natural gas supplies keeps our energy costs low and supports thousands of good-paying jobs. U.S. carbon emissions are down to their lowest levels since 1988 thanks to the resurgence of natural gas."

Stockton said the project has "broad-based support" from business, labor and community organizations. He also noted that after the pipeline is installed, the land above it will continue to be farmed.

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The chapel dedication went off as planned on July 9. More than 300 people showed up to pray and pledge support to the Adorers in their fight, the crowd stretching from the chapel into the adjacent park.

Speaking at the dedication, Sister Janet McCann said, "When St. Maria DeMattias founded our congregation in 1834, she spoke of our call to help 'bring about that beautiful order of things.'

"As Adorers, we believe that 'beautiful order' happens when we reverence and respect creation. We 'bring about that beautiful order of things' when our decision-making and our influence honor our interconnectedness and oneness with all creation.

"As religious women of the Catholic Church, our faith impels us to stand up when the principles we hold sacred are compromised on the very land that is ours.

"When the very land on which we stand is in danger of being exploited, we must stand up to the misuse of power and influence. This is not a political statement but a spiritual stand as people of faith."